Question

What are some implications of differences in the ways adults speak to boys and girls?

What can parents and caregivers do to promote infants’ language development?

How does learning language during this age help develop cognitive skills in the future?

Do you tend to agree with Bruner or Piaget concerning the relationship between language and thought?

Answer 1

1. Parenting girls versus boys have always been a matter of discussion not only amongst the researchers but the laymen too . Studies have found several differences between girls and boys too . To list some of them are -

• Girls reach their developmental milestone earlier than boys such as talking , eye hand coordination etc .
• The boys are difficult to calm down than girls . The reason for the same could be a higher level of testosterone in boys making boys to be inclined towards more aggressive behaviour.

The parental Implications of differences in the ways adults speak to boys and girls -

Since girls are considered to be delicate and emotional than boys , they are mostly likely to be treated accordingly . The other reason for the differences is - boys if pampered more may turn into mama's boy which is not so aligned with our societal good image of boys . As the common notions and some studies which claim that boys do good in maths and science and girls do good in arts and language also lays some foundation for differences. As girls are more likely to recieve lesser challenging projects than boys .

Conclusion - Though the differences in adults approach towards girls and boys are based on the gender stereotyping but now there has been a change and shift of mind especially on the gender based roles . We have more male chefs than females and females are doing extremely well in military and other male dominating services.

2. There are various ways parents and caregivers can adopt to facilitate the language development of the children .To list some of them are as following-

• Indulge in more verbal talk - Talk talk and talk that's one of the proven ways not only for the language development and but has also been proved effective for the cognitive stimulation in the children.
• Create opportunities- The parents or care givers should create the opportunities for children so that they can speak out . For example- If a child is tempted to eat chocolates, the parents may just hide the chocolates so that the child can speak out more as what he wants to eat .
• Ask Questions - Asking questions can stimulate the thought processes which may help in language development too.
• Reading and Story telling - Reading age appropriate books and story telling also help in language acquisition.

Conclusion - There are many ways a child can be encouraged to speak more . But the psychological principle of Reinforcement remains the core . A child should be reinforced to make him repeat the behaviour again in future . The reinforcement could be a verbal encouragement or A loving gesture when the child involves in dialogue or communication with his parents.

3. Language development has largely been considered to be interrelated with the cognitive development. Researchers claim that a larger vocabulary can help the child be more creative . It helps them in coming up with new and different ideas . Language development also promotes social and emotional regulation not only in children but in adults too through the process of social interaction.

4. Piaget and Bruner were the two influential theoriest of cognitive development . They have some basic differences in their approach of defining it . According to Piaget the cognitive development happens in four stages . And in each stage the development occurs as a result of interaction between maturation and environment. According to Piaget , thoughts come before language. As language is one of the ways to express it . However Bruner disagrees with Piaget on this part as he believed that language development is a cause not a consequence of cognitive development. I agree with both the theoriest . To put it a right way , it can be more of a simultaneous process rather than antecedent or precedents of each other .